The Oppositi
by Morpheus Aether
Summary: hehe...A Sailor Moon fanfic with a plot. There are 6 new enemies...or old, as time will prove. But they are not all-encompassing evil...they fight for a reason, and are connected to the Senshi and Endymion in ways they will have to remember.R & R NEWBIES!
1. One

Hello! Welcome to THE OPPOSITI! This is my first Sailor Moon fanfic, I hope you like it!

Prologue

Gaea opened her eyes and gasped for breath. She could see nothing for a moment, her vision impaired by multicoloured twinkling stars. 

She panted, hunched over, waiting, and listening; taking in her surroundings without sight. So much more could be revealed using the minor senses, using her ears to hear the whispering wind, her hands to closed around the fine-grained soil she was hunched upon, her nose to smell the dryness in the air.

'Where are they?' she wondered, remembering.

She took check of her surroundings using the visual now. As far as she could see, in all directions, was desert. Hills and dunes rose here and there and ill-used tracks wove their way up and down the mountains. 

She licked her lips, and raised her eyes to the heavens. The moon was full, staring down at her like an ever-watchful, scrutinising eye.

Gaea glared at it. That's where they are. Or were. The Moon Kingdom that thought they were so high and mighty with their pacifism and democracy. On the outside, they seemed like the perfect leaders. 

On the inside, they had been judgmental and archaic. It had been destiny that their empire would explode in ruin.

Gaea rose and dusted the fine, grey-hued dirt off her body, her black as night hair falling around her naked, darkly tanned body like a shroud. 

Her fringe whisked into her eyes a moment, and she delicately pushed it behind her ear.

'So it has happened,' she thought, her jade eyes glowing moment in the night like twin fireflies as earthy-toned clothing materialised and covered her body. 'The Moon Kingdom has risen from its ashes.'

One

The storm encompassed the evening, a hostile squall mournfully gusting through the open doors, rattling the shutters.

Flames danced in the gale, mirrored by indigo eyes. Jet black hair, blacker than the midnight sky, snapped and swirled fitfully around Rei Hino. 

But she did not notice the cold night, nor the wind, nor any of her surroundings. 

The fire, she focussed on.

__

Show me.

Her regular meditation was nigh, where she contemplated all she'd seen and experienced that week to perhaps shed some light on the events to come. The embers glowed scarlet, and dulled to orange once more. 

Her eyes closed in concentration. But she could still see the flames, their image embossed in her mind's eye. 

__

Show me.

The surging gale slammed the wooden doors shut. The livid breeze could no longer ruffle her hair or threaten to extinguish her focus; it fell around her shoulders, at peace. The gust beat against the doors fitfully, demanding reentry. 

In Rei's mind, the flames grew and grew, feeding on her essence that carried the eternal fire. The flames glowed red, tipped in the darkest, blackest blue. 

And she saw.

__

It's light shone on a dense forest, revealing a meandering path of destruction. Trees and ferns glowed the red of the flames, as though on fire themselves, as though they thrived off its warm energy. Ravaged stumps lay on the ruined path – some excreting a black, gooey substance; a thick, dripping trees-blood. 

In the center of the destruction, lay humanoid ice sculptures, curled into fetal positions, their features indistinguishable. 

A figure wrapped in a long, almost transparent, hooded cloak stepped into view and ran, almost silently, through the debris, the robe-like shroud flapping gently behind like a crystal shadow. 

The ice figures uncoiled themselves and began to scream shrilly, stabbing into Rei's receptive mind like cold knife blades. 

She recoiled and gasped, becoming aware of her physical self once more but not breaking the trance in totality. She needed to see what she had willed, but it pained her mind. A moments rest…

She blinked. The fire came into focus in front of her, flickering softly. The flames had nearly gone out. 

The storm beat against the door shutters still, but it was the last of Rei's worries. What had she been shown? 

She sat there, silently, legs folded gently underneath her, for some time, trying to decode the vision. A bleeding forest. The faceless ice sculptures. The person cloaked in a crystalline white, running. The screams. 

Like an acid blade, terror ripped through Rei and she knew that the premonition was far from over. On the edges of her mind, she could feel them, the ice sculptures and their icicle shrieks, clawing at her, dragging at her. They wanted to show her.

It was going to be a long night, one in which the young priestess would not gain a wink of sleep.


	2. Two

Short one to follow…I have a few chapters up my sleeve for now so expect quick uploads. 

Two

A faint beeping sounded, and Ami's cerulean eyes flickered open. Sunlight streamed through the window shutters and Ami blinked painfully. 

She unstuck her face from the textbook she'd been using as a pillow. 

'I'm here Luna,' Ami took hold of the communicator, rubbing her eyes. 'What's the matter?'

Makoto's voice sounded through a haze of cracking static.

'Luna is with Usagi,' she sounded rushed, and strained as though she was whispering. 

'Where are you?' the fine hairs on Ami's neck began to prickle with anticipated fear. 'I'm not reading you very well.'

'Juuban Hospital. Ami I thought you could get me out of here, you know, with your mother and all,' Makoto's voice was still strained. Ami's mother worked at the Juuban hospital. 

'Give me a few minutes,' she rose and asked no more. Mako-chan was in a place where the answering of questions would risk their identities. 

Ami hurriedly moved through her house. Her mother hadn't come home the previous night and the kitchen light had been on all night. Ami turned it off as she dashed through the kitchen and jumped as a blue spark zapped her from the switch. The lights flickered a moment, and Ami looked up to them questioningly, enthralled, with her zapped finger in her mouth.

Without warning, the lights shattered. 

Ami ducked and covered her head as fragments of glass showered over her. Faint pinpricks to her arms indicated that some of the pointy pieces had pierced her skin. 

She waited until the glass stopped tinkling, and breathed deeply. 

Ami risked looking up. The kitchen was a mess! 

She studied her arms. Just a few cuts.

But her finger, the very one that had touched the light switch, was throbbing slightly as though still charged. She looked to it with an exasperated worried expression, and noticed that a slight blister had formed on her fingertip in a jagged line. How strange. She'd been very lucky not to have been electrocuted. 

She sucked on it again, leaving the kitchen, watching that she didn't crush any more glass under her boots and shaking the finer fragments out of her hair. There wasn't time to worry about the mess. Something was up with Makoto. 

Still in the previous day's jeans and blue turtleneck, Ami wrapped her scarf around her neck and buttoned her coat. 


	3. Three

Last upload for a few days, I'm going to be away. Enjoy! J 

Three

Minako skipped through the park, lavishing the morning breeze and the fresh smells that always followed rain. The Juuban autumn was so exhilarating, so full of change with wild, flashy storms and crisp, clear days. Her knee-length maroon skirts swayed against her legs gently and she pulled her woolen gloves off, tucking them into her coat pockets. It was warmer here than it had been in Cardiff, her home city. She was used to chilly weather.

She stopped by the lake, marveling at the mirrored quality the sun's morning light gave it, making it appear to be a lake of liquid silver. 

It reminded her of home. Not of Cardiff in Britain, where she had spent most of her current life; but of Venus. In another time, Venus had boasted lakes of silver and ferns of virulent teals and sapphire. In this life, she had learned that it had become a topaz wasteland; never to view the sky or the stars again. What a waste of such beauty. 

Minako sighed, and moved to walk back home, turning her thoughts to what she could dig up for breakfast. Some tea and-

'It's cold,' a childish voice said by her side. 

Minako startled. She had thought she was alone. Her mind had been a couple of million miles away, she reasoned. 

'Good morning,' Minako nodded to the coated child, stooped over making pictures in the dirt and leaves with a twig, face hidden by a hood of deep, dark green. 'The storm brought autumn to us truly, it seems,' she tried to catch a glance of the child's face. She thought she saw some strawberry coloured hair. 

'It will only get colder,' the girl said in the same careless, girl-child voice.

'Hai,' Minako agreed. 'Winter is approaching.'

Who was this little girl, Mina wondered? What was she doing in the park, this early in the morning by herself?

'Are your parents nearby, little one?' Minako stooped to the girl, who couldn't have been more than five years old. 

The girl started to draw more vigorously in the dirt, swirling spirals and sharp angled patterns. 

'No,' the cloaked child grated with intensity beyond her years.

Minako's mind was automatically switching to defensive mode, and she chided herself. She surveyed her surrounds; it was clear, the lake was in front of them, a tree line was behind them. Neither of them were in danger.

Calmly she rose, resolving to call the police when she left the park, just to make sure the little girl wasn't all alone.

'Good bye, dear,' Minako smiled hopefully as she turned and walked towards the trees. 

No reply came, only the sound of more frantic drawing and scratching on the ground. 

She reached the treeline, and had still heard nothing. She turned back, and noticed that the green-coated child had gone.

Minako shook off the oppressive vibes she had been emitting herself and smiled, slowing her pace along the path through the trees once more.

A hand snaked out from a tree, quick as a flash, grabbing Minako's neck.

Mina gasped and grabbed the wrist attached to the hand, digging her nails into it. 

The hand was strong; the body stronger, and Minako found herself lifted off the ground a good foot. 

She tried to isolate her thoughts and focus, meaning to kick her leg around in a sweep to hit whoever had captured her in the face. 

Before she could act, she was slammed into a tree trunk, and the pungent smell of strong, sickly flowers filled her nostrils. A face pressed up against hers, and she saw glowing, cornsilk-blue eyes reflecting her own, horrified face. 

Minako coughed, trying to speak. 

'Winter is here,' a matured female voice grated. Minako's head felt so heavy…she held the hand at her throat, staring shell-shocked into the pale blue eyes, trying to identify the familiar, heavily shadowed face. The lips were prominent, pink and pouty, and either side of the dark green hood, Minako could make out a sheath of long, strawberry-blonde hair. 

'The storm did not bring it,' the voice continued. 'You brought it on yourself.'

'What?' Minako rasped.

The young woman smirked unkindly, and her other hand rose to Minako's face. She extended a finger and slowly moved it towards Mina's temple. Minako tried to take the opportunity to kick her feet up from under her and lob the stronger woman in the gut, but as soon as the finger touched her skin, she felt burning, and instant paralysis. 

'You're dead,' the woman whispered, then vanished in thin air. Minako fell to the leafy ground, landing in a crouch. She coughed again. That little girl – she hadn't been little at all! And those glowing blue eyes – there wasn't an earthly thing about them. 

Mina's hand snaked to her temple, where the burning was persisting. She could feel a slight lump of skin, like a blister almost, in the shape of a triangle. She let her hand fall to the ground unsteadily. 

There was a new enemy, and she was strong. She had fooled Minako, and put the Goddess of Love out of commission before she'd had the time to think and act against her. 

She rose shakily and brushed the pieces of stray bark out of her hair, trying to regain her composure. 

Quickly, she left the park, finding the nearest phone booth. 

She dialed Usagi's number. 

__

Ring-ring.

'Moshi-moshi.'

Minako burst into tears. 


	4. Four

Four

'Are you an asthmatic, Miss Kino?' 

'No,' Makoto sighed, repeating for what felt like the hundredth time, 'I've never had any health problems in my life.'

The doctor, a bored-looking 50-something with ear-length brown hair gave her a patronising smile. 

'The attack you had was quite severe, for someone who's never had any respiratory problems,' the doctor continued. 

'You're telling me,' Mako huffed. 'Maybe all the smog of this city is finally getting to people?' she blinked snobbishly and turned her head away. 

'Yes,' the doctor stood and clipped a board to the end of Makoto's hospital bed. 'It could be the smog. Or it could be your own fault.'

Makoto's head snapped to him.

'_My_ fault? I have to be the healthiest person I know, just ask any of my friends-'

'I don't need to. I could see it when you came in here,' the doctor sat on the side of Makoto's bed. 

Makoto opened her mouth in protest, but no speech came out. Her chest felt tight suddenly and her eyes wanted to bulge out of her head. 

'I know a great deal about you. All your records suggest that you are quite the little superstar,' the doctor seemed oblivious to the fact that Makoto was having an asthmatic attack of some sort. 

'My…_records_?' Makoto held her chest, then clenched her eyes shut.

__

What did he know? Why isn't he helping me?

Makoto's chest felt ready to explode when she felt her element surge through her. Her frustration was fueling it, she thought offside. 

She snapped open her eyes and grabbed the doctor by the front of the shirt. 

'How…you…just help me,' Makoto gave up trying to talk and stared the doctor in the eyes viciously. They were jade green, like her own, but this information barely registered. 

The doctor startled, then took Makoto's hands. The girl was weakening, and couldn't retain her grasp. 

__

'What kind of doctor is this,' Makoto wondered angrily. 

'There you are,' the doctor's smile was cruel, his voice lowered. 'It is such a shame, so much life to live, and so little time…'

'HELP!' Makoto screamed, fed up with this doctor's game. 

The doctor's eyes narrowed, and stood slowly, settling Makoto back into her bed and pressing her hands together on top of her heart, as though she were a corpse being laid to rest. As soon as she lay down, Makoto felt a bizarre warmth rip through her like a whistling wind – and she could breathe again. 

But under her hands, a searing pain ripped through her blood. 

Makoto clenched her eyes again, and this time her teeth, to deal with the pain, unable to cry out from lack of energy. 

'Well until the doctor can see you, we will have to keep you on the respirator I'm afraid.'

Makoto's eyes whipped open. The pain in her hand throbbed dully, and she looked to it. In the center of her open palm was a pure white blister like a sharp slash. 

The 'doctor' was gone. A young nurse stood at the side of her bed holding her chart.

Makoto clenched her jaw and breathed steadily. 'I am fine. I don't need it.'

'You weren't fine at three in the morning when your neighbour phoned us.'

'I…' Makoto went to rebuke the impossible woman and stopped. _I don't know what happened,_ she wanted to say. She'd never been asthmatic, never had a history of any health problems, especially respiratory with the amount of exercise she did. That strange doctor was behind her problems, she knew, but he also seemed to be able to cure her. Why? Who was he? 

The nurse put a comradely hand on Mako's shoulder. 

'You will feel weak for a little while longer, Miss Kino,' she said stiffly. 'You must not have another attack like this mornings,' the nurse held the respirator out.

Makoto took it roughly and held it over her nose. If only she knew what she'd just experienced. 

Warm, damp air rushed into her body as she breathed. 

As soon as the nurse left, Makoto put the ridiculous respirator mask on her side table and picked up her magazine. She didn't take in any of the words; she was seething. How could she have had an asthma attack? How could someone other than herself seem to have control over her breathing?

She felt her hair begin to prickle with charge and the plant on her window sill began to bud and flower rapidly. Makoto told herself to cool down before her element got the better of her again – she didn't have the energy to spare. 

Within fifteen minutes, Ami hurried into the room.

'Mako-chan, what happened?' she asked quietly, giving her the same pained, sorrow-filled look that many of the nurses had given her as though she was fragile and about to break. 

'Nothing, I just need you to talk to your mother and get me out of here,' Makoto put the magazine down, not wishing to elaborate in a public place. 

Ami looked taken back and read Mako's chart. 

Her brow furrowed. 

'Nothing? Makoto, I didn't know you were asthmatic.'

'I'm not,' she held her head up in best effort to appear in control. 'I just…had an incident.'

'What happened?' Ami took a seat gingerly by the hospitalised girl.

The previous night's blurred memories flooded Makoto's mind and she grudgingly began to tell Ami as discreetly as possible. 


	5. Five

Five

'Mina-chan, slow down, I can't hear you,' Usagi groaned, angrily yanking up the kitchen's window shutters. Bright light glared back at her. It was _far_ too early to be up on a Saturday morning. And Minako calling and blubbering down the phone line to her…she'd better have a good explanation. 

'…was…attacked…' Usagi made out. 

'You were attacked?' her tiredness vanished, overridden by the immediate concern for her friend. Something attacked her and the Princess of Venus _couldn't _overcome it? 

'Where are you?'

__

Sniff, 'At the park…'

'Go to Rei's,' Usagi ordered. She lived a block from the beautiful Juuban parklands at the Temple. 'I'll meet you there.'

Minako blubbered a yes, and Usagi put down the phone, jumping as the shutters she had just opened slammed shut. 

'Weird,' she mouthed, rushing down the hallway, golden hair streaming out behind her. 

'Usagi?' her mother sounded tired, hearing the heavy, rushed footfalls of her daughter thunder past. There was a hint of disbelief in her voice. What was Usagi doing up at this hour? 

She threw open her bedroom curtains to let the morning in and began to dress. 

Luna stretched on the bed and rolled onto her back.

'Am I dreaming?' she managed through a massive cat yawn. 

'Luna wake up. Mina-chan just called from the parklands, she was attacked this morning.'

'And she couldn't beat it?' Luna sat up.

'She's going to Rei's,' Usagi threw on knee socks and a knee-length navy dress. 'I'm meeting her there.'

'I'll find Artemis,' Luna jumped to the window sill. 'He'll be worried sick about-'

Before the cat could finish, the curtains fell together and the door slammed shut. Luna meowed in protest and made her way out of the folds of material. 

Usagi barely noticed her, her blood chilling for a moment. 

'Spooky!' she spoke to herself, idly retying the curtains. 

'The storm breeze is persisting,' Luna indignantly shook herself and re-perched on the window sill. 'I will be in contact,' she announced, leaving.

Usagi threw on her scarf and coat, not bothering to tie her hair and pulling a thick woolen hat over her ears. It _was_ chilly that morning. 

She hurried to the Temple.


	6. Six

Six

The street light above the girls shattered. 

Ami and Makoto ducked and civilians ran to move out of the way of the falling pieces of glass. 

The two girls recovered with a shake. 

'I'm getting sick of this.'

'It's not my fault.'

'Once in the hospital might have been a coincidence, but that's the third time,' Makoto removed her hat and shook her hair out. A few pieces of thick glass fell out and she resumed walking as though it was the most normal thing in the world to do. 

'Fourth,' Ami corrected. Makoto stopped and gave Ami a disbelieving look. 'This morning, before I came to you,' Ami said reluctantly. 

Makoto shook her head. 'This is freaking me out, why you? I'm the –'

Ami's glance silenced Makoto. 

'You're the one with the affinity to electricity?' Ami asked in a hushed voice, both girls hurrying past a neon sign. 

'Exactly,' Makoto hissed, and stopped again.

'Well, not exactly,' Ami's brow furrowed again. 'Your element is earth, the trees, plant life. The thunder…well, it doesn't matter, but it can be connected to Mercury as well as Jupiter. Anyway, we need to talk to Luna and get the others to the Games Center, see if anything else has-' Ami turned back to Makoto quickly. 

'Mako-chan?'

Makoto's eyes were wide and her hand was on her chest. She looked horrified. 

'No,' Ami rushed back to her, rubbing the girl's arms. 'Breathe normally.'

Makoto shook her head, as though she wanted to say something to correct the situation.

'Here,' Ami fumbled with her bag and produced the ventilator a nurse had given Ami for Mako's sake. 

Makoto didn't protest and just about devoured the tube, breathing in as the spray pumped out. 

Another puff, and Makoto began to calm. Ami politely turned the people away asking if the girl was all right, and put her arm around Makoto's shoulders, leading her along their former path. 

'We should get you to Rei,' Ami said in a low voice. 'If anyone saw this coming, she would have. The others can meet us there.'


	7. Seven

Seven

'Rei-chan?' Minako pushed the slatted doors open a little. No one had answered her knocking. 

The Temple was empty, the ceremonial fires not lit for morning meditations. Minako had never seen the fires out; the room seemed sterile, and somewhat larger. 

'Rei?' Minako called again. 

Nothing. 

Minako walked through the temple, her steps echoing in the desolate room. She shuddered and hugged her coat tight. 

'Phoebos? Demios?' Minako tried, opening an adjacent door which lead to Rei's private chamber. The Priestess' two crows didn't even seem to be awake yet. 

Minako heard a knocking noise further down the hall, and hurried towards Rei's room. 

__

Please let her be home, Minako thought. She didn't feel like being alone. 

'Rei?' Minako pushed open Rei's door a little, checking the girl wasn't still asleep. 

Her bed was untouched. 

But she'd found the source of the persistant knocking sound. At the windowsill outside, sat Phoebos and Demios, desperately trying to get into the room through the glass. 

Minako's gaze was drawn to the corner of the room and her morning's ordeal was forgotten. 

Rei was curled in a ball, her eyes wide open, her skin as pale as death, in the corner of her room closest to where her fire should have been blazing. It was out; the embers stone cold. 

'Rei?' Mina's voice wavered as she put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Rei's eyes flashed and snapped to regard Minako. The blonde girl startled, withdrawing her hand. Rei had felt so cold. On her left cheek, was an ice-white mark, sort of like a blister, in the shape of a tiny multi-pointed star. 

'Cold,' Rei rasped. 'Screaming.'

'Don't,' Minako shook her head painfully, sitting Rei up properly so she was leaning against the wall. 

'Cold!' Rei told Minako angrily. 

'I know!' Mina replied, rushing to Rei's fire trying to re-light it. After a few failed attempts, Mina gave up and stripped Rei's bed of its covers, piling them onto the freezing girl. 

Rei coughed; a deep, dry, throaty cough. Her indigo gaze fell on the two desperate crows at the window. 

Minako looked up, and hurried to them. 

Her hand was on the window latch, ready to open it, when she faltered. The crows were squawking strangely, almost screaming. She looked up to them. Their eyes. They weren't their usual amber. 

They were blue. A familiar glowing, unworldly cornsilk blue. 

The crows didn't seem so desperate to get to their Priestess at that moment. They seemed desperate to get in and get to Minako. 

Changing her mind, she closed the shutters and hurried back to the fire. She had to re-light it. She had to do something to get her mind off the hateful blue eyes that were pursuing her. 


	8. Eight

Eight

'There you are Luna dear, I didn't get a _wink_ of sleep last night, kept having this awful dreams about the past, it was the strangest thing-' Artemis rambled from the outside of the Games Center.

'Shut up,' Luna got two words in. 'Minako has been attacked,' the black feline squeezed through the barred gates and pushed a discreet button with her paw. A cat-sized latch opened to the left of the main entrance, and the two cats filed through it. 

'What?'

'Don't ask,' Luna closed her eyes, frustration welling inside her. She was used to having answers, and this time she had no idea what was going on. The storm had her suitably ruffled her as well. 

'A new enemy?' Artemis' face was lowered. 

'No you dolt, a friend attacked her, of course an enemy,' Luna snapped. 

'Hey!' Artemis growled. 'Stop sinking in your claws and just tell me what happened!'

'I don't know,' Luna hurried to the command monitor and activated it. The screen hummed a moment, glowing white, then a map of Juuban appeared. 

'Where is she now?' Artemis asked quickly. 

'Usagi told her to go to Rei-chan's,' Luna tried to calm down. She studied the screen, and searched for the Princess of Venus' tracker. 

'There,' she pointed to Rei's home. 'Rei and Minako are together. It seems Ami and Makoto,' Luna continued, noticing a small flashing blue and green dot, 'have also headed to Rei's.'

'But what's that?' Artemis asked, pawing the screen. 

Behind the two moving girls were shadows of trackers, following their every step. 

'They are being hunted,' Artemis exclaimed.

'Don't jump to conclusions,' Luna snapped. 'They are smart. They are joining the other Senshi. Together they are stronger.'

'But who would be stalking them?' Luna continued. 'They only way they'd show up on the tracker is if they were like the girls.'

'You mean…' Artemis crossed his cat-brows, 'they have stars?'

'_Have_ stars,' Luna repeated. 'We all have stars, as you call them. Souls. But they would need to have important stars, just like our girls…'

'With connections to the old times then,' Artemis' eyes were glued to the screen. 'Maybe one of these new stars attacked Minako. I can't believe she couldn't overcome it,' Artemis shook his head. 'I should have been there,' he spat. 

'And what, claw the enemy to death?' Luna scathed. 'Be realistic. We know at least that Minako, Ami and Makoto are seemingly being followed or tracked. I would say it is the same for Usagi and Rei as well.'

'What about me?' a voice came from the top of the stairs. 

'Mamoru,' Luna turned to the handsome young man. 'Let's hope it doesn't effect you. How long have you been listening?'

'Long enough. Look, I can feel that something is awry here,' Mamoru descended the stairs quickly and took a seat near the computer monitor, showing that Ami and Makoto were still being tracked. 'I didn't get any sleep either. Why can't they feel it?'

'Maybe they can,' Luna muttered. 'Where is Usagi?' Luna questioned the screen. 

Responding to the voice command, the monitor scrolled the streets of Juuban, and rested on a moving white dot. 

'She's in a public area at least,' Mamoru sat back. 

Luna gave Artemis a fed up look, and noticed that the white cat was deep in thought.

'What is it?' she asked him. 

'Check Mamoru,' Artemis' eyes were still not focussing on anything. 'Is he being followed?'

The monitor scrolled to the Games Center, and registered Mamoru's, Luna's and Artemis' stars as flashing dots. 

'There,' Artemis pawed a glowing brown dot on the screen. 'He has one too.'

'One what?' 

'A stalker,' Artemis pronounced. 'What happened to you on the way over here? How do you know something's wrong?' he fired. 

Mamoru scowled, not liking to be questioned in such a manner. '_Nothing_ has happened, apart from not being able to sleep. I am just getting the creeps. It relieves me to see that there _is _something following me. I thought I was becoming jumpy.'

'Becoming?' Luna huffed. 

Artemis ignored her.

'Did you dream?' he asked quickly. 

'I didn't sleep,' Mamoru held his hands out helplessly. 

'Wait,' Artemis scurried closer to the Prince of Earth. 

'What?' Mamoru frowned. 

'Show me your hand,' Artemis commanded. 

'Ok,' Mamoru held out his palms to the white cat, giving Luna a questioning glance. 

'What is it, Artemis?' 

'That mark, where did you get it?' Artemis pointed to a blister underneath Mamoru's index finger in the shape of a semi-circle. 

'Oh, I…' Mamoru seemed a little embarrassed. 'I burned myself on my iron this morning.'

Luna huffed.

'No you didn't,' Artemis declared. 'That's not a burn, it's a mark,' he looked to Luna quickly. 

'He's been marked?' Luna asked unbelievingly. 

'We have to get to Rei's,' Artemis scurried off the desk and up the stairs.

'What do you mean, marked? By whom?' Mamoru thundered after the cat. 

Luna sighed and hurried after the pair. She still didn't have a clue what the white cat knew, and wished he would just hurry up and tell them.


	9. Nine

Nine

Minako had made soup, but Rei had refused to drink it dwelling on the very exaggerated half-truth referring to Minako's unique culinary skills that tended to make everything taste like salty peas. 

Much to both girls' relief, Rei had stopped convulsively shivering. The star-blister hadn't dulled at all, if anything, it had become more defined, as had Minako's own triangular mark on her temple. 

Rei now sat on a large purple cushion in front of the fire, wearing thick woolen socks, Minako's gloves, trackpants and a warm, furry red turtleneck. 

She had told Minako about her vision during the storm, about the recurrence of it during the night and her inability to control it, and of the stabbing cold of the screams. 

'It's lucky I came by when I did,' Minako put the rejected bowl of soup on the floor, her eyes glancing at the shuttered windows a moment. Were those eyes still out there?

'Why are you here?' Rei croaked with genuine concern.

Minako came back to herself. She told Rei about the attack in the park.

Rei was livid and tried to rise. 

'There's nothing you can do about it now!' Minako held her back easily. Rei was weak. 

'Like hell,' Rei fired. 'Tell me what he looked like, Mako and I will scour Juuban and find him, and he'll be spitting out bits of his balls for the rest of his life-'

'It was a she, and-' Minako shook her head and winced a little. The fire crackled and began to glow scarlet, edged in deep blue.

'And?' Rei asked, abating. 

'I think…I know her,' Minako muttered in near confusion. 

'What, one of those preppy cows from my school? What did she look like, I'll rearrange her face so her own mother won't recognise her-'

'Stop it,' Minako said quietly, holding her head. 'There's nothing you can do about it,' she repeated, hissing. 

She looked up to Rei, only to find the girl had turned pale again. But not from cold. Rei looked scared. 

Her eyes were fixed on the scarlet flames.

Minako looked between the two. 

'Rei-chan, stop it!'

Rei's indigo eyes snapped to Minako and the flames fell back to their original orange. 

'What's going on?' Rei asked in a very non-Rei-like voice. She shrugged the blanket around her shoulders tighter. 

Minako looked to the window shutters again, wishing that the crows would stop tapping. At least Rei hadn't decided to let them in. 


	10. Ten

Ten

Ami's hair was slightly frazzled and Makoto was wheezing comfortably, if that's possible, by the time they reached the Shrine. 

'What happened to her?' Ami asked as Minako asked the same question about Makoto. 

Ami rushed to Rei's side, leaving Makoto with Mina. Minako lead the wheezing girl to another large cushion by the fire. 

'Put that fire out!' Makoto whispered, her breathing becoming more solid. 

Ami looked up quickly to Mako. Why was she afraid of the fire?

Minako frowned. 'We…we can't. Rei needs it. She's-'

'Freezing!' Ami came back to herself as she touched Rei's arms. 'How did this happen?'

'It's a long story,' Rei choked. 

'Where's Usagi?' Ami asked no one in particular. 

'She is on her way,' Minako answered, not seeming to fully paying attention.

Ami stood hurriedly and rushed to the window, pushing the shutters aside.

'No!' Minako cried. 

Light gushed into the room and Ami squinted at the glare. 

She turned back, even more confused. 'What's wrong?'

Minako stared at the windows a moment, then seemed to breathe normally. 

'It's nothing,' she said with relief. 

'It's not nothing,' Makoto coughed gruffly. 'Ami's making lights shatter, you're as flighty as all hell, Rei's freezing to death and I can't breath. Usagi's probably already dead.'

'Don't say that!' Ami shushed Makoto quickly, setting a kettle over the flames to brew some tea. 

'Please, stop,' Minako asked in a small voice. 'My head is…'

'What?' Ami asked quietly. Minako looked as though she was having a migraine. Why was everyone suffering so visibly but herself?

She trailed off and Makoto grudgingly took another puff of her ventilator in the silence.

'You shouldn't have so much of that,' Ami called warningly. 

'I shouldn't have this thing at all,' Makoto reminded her. 

'Ami, what have you done to your hair?' Minako asked as politely as possible. 'It's…all frazzled.'

Ami sighed. 


	11. Eleven

Eleven

Usagi raced along the sidewalk, wondering at the thickening clouds on the horizon. The weather people had forecast a clear, autumn day. 

The clouds were foreboding; freaking her out on what was turning out to be a rather spooky day.

The sun fell behind a puff of grey cloud and Usagi shivered again. It was colder than she'd expected it to be as well. What was going on?

The sun reappeared a moment. Usagi took a step and gasped, coming to a halt. She felt cold, alone, fearful… 

A passer by asked if she was all right, and the waves of dark energy ceased. Usagi shook, breathing normally. For a moment it had felt like her body was being squeezed from all sides, from all angles. 

She continued along the sidewalk hesitantly. The civilians were thinning out, and Usagi began to worry that no one would be there if 'it' happened again. 

As she thought it, she gasped as the wave of stabbing evil washed over her. She dimly registered she was underneath a shop awning. 

She looked to the shop for help, and noticed her reflection in the smooth glass. 

Usagi wasn't alone. Reflected behind her was a dark shape; a cloaked figure, roughly her height and shape. 

She spun around to face the cloaked person, and found no one. 

Usagi turned back again to the glass and the reflection. There it was, standing right behind her, unmoving. 

A hand grabbed Usagi's shoulder. She couldn't even scream. She didn't dare turn around. 

A whispered voice spoke, and Usagi absorbed it. 

'Darkness and light come with each other, Princess,' it spoke in a haunting, feminine voice. 'But darkness will always consume you, in the end.'

'Darkness…' Usagi gasped almost silently. 

'Darkness,' the voice repeated from below a heavily hooded charcoal coloured cloak. 'You escaped me the last time. But I will devour you in this time. There can only be one.'

'Why?' Usagi managed, closing her eyes. She wanted to move, to fight back, but the voice and the hand – and the fear – had immobilised her. She wasn't Sailor Moon at that moment, but a small, frightened blonde girl. 

'Darkness consumes light,' she breathed again. 'It is the will of the universe.'

A whooshing noise filled Usagi's ears and she opened her eyes quickly. The hand, the voice – the reflection was gone. 

'Usagi!' 

The girl turned quickly like a startled deer, and noticed Luna and a trailing Artemis and Mamoru heading in her direction.

'I…I think…'

'Don't think,' Luna interrupted. 'Just listen.'

'Listen?'

'Luna, no,' Artemis caught up to her. 'Get her to the others. They will be stronger as one.'

'The others?'

'The Senshi,' Luna told the confused girl. 

'Usagi are you all right?' Mamoru reached the trio and pulled Usagi into a protective hug. 

'Are they all right?' Usagi asked, pushing back and glancing with a slight paranoia at the glass of the shop front once more. The shadow was gone, but Usagi could imagine her still there. Every time she blinked, she could feel her voice on her neck and hand on her shoulder. 

'Let's go then,' Usagi didn't even hear Luna's reply. 

She hurried away from the shop front and minded to steer clear of the shadows. 

The sun fell behind cloud again as the girl, young man and two cats reached the Temple. 


	12. Twelve

Twelve

By the time Usagi, Luna, Mamoru and Artemis arrived, the other four girls had exchanged their stories. Usagi seemed too preoccupied with her own fears to worry about their retellings, and was reluctant to speak of her own encounter. The very thought of her might conjure that…thing from the shadows. 

'Usagi, listen!' Luna said again. 

Ami handed the distracted girl a cup of tea and put a consoling hand on her shoulder. 

'We'll be all right,' she smiled. 

Usagi half-heartedly returned the smile. 

Ami looked the least effected out of all the Senshi, Usagi thought. 

'What are we up against?' Rei was seeming to return to her firey self. It seemed that Artemis had been right that they would be more powerful together, for Makoto's ventilator had lain discarded on the floor since Usagi had burst into the room.

'It's happening?' Artemis asked himself in shock.

'What?' Minako queried her protector. 

'You are all marked. And your symptoms – it's so obvious. What is the common trait in all your attackers?' Artemis asked quickly. 

'That they're freaks?' Makoto fired. 

Both Artemis and Minako winced visibly. 

Mamoru spoke up quickly. 'They seem to harbour elemental power,' he answered. 

'Exactly. Oppositi,' Artemis announced plainly. 

'Artemis, no!' Luna was aghast. 

'Meaining…?' Rei urged.

'Exactly what it implies. Your opposites,' Artemis spoke from Minako's lap. 'Opposing elemental power – ice against fire, hate against love, darkness against light, air against earth and electricity against water. And Mamoru's stalker, who doesn't seem to have done anything but mark him.'

'Who marked you Mamo-chan?' Usagi rested a consoling arm on his elbow idly. She wasn't whole-heartedly concerned, still wound up in her own experience. 

'Where did they come from?' Ami asked Artemis quickly. 'How many are there?'

'If it is the Oppositi…there are six now, just as there are six of you. I suspect there are at least four more Oppositi to balance out the four outer kingdoms as well,' Luna theorised somewhat half-heartedly. 

'You suspect?' Makoto's eyes narrowed. 'You don't know?'

'How can we know?' Artemis seemed highly annoyed. 

'Art,' Minako stroked his head. 'Please, it hurts.'

'What…' Usagi's drifting gaze focussed on Minako. 'What hurts?'

Mina shook her head. 'When they fight. It's just giving me a headache-'

'That's exactly what we're talking about!' Artemis took the opportunity impatiently. 'Minako's element is love. Since Minako's Oppositi has already marked her, any minutely hateful thoughts or actions will bring her pain - it will effect her more since all your elements are environmental, but Minako's are emotional – it conflicts with-'

'Ok, we get the picture,' Makoto shushed the scientific explanation. 'What do they want?' 

'To bring down your kingdoms, as they did before,' Artemis said matter-of-factly.

'We don't have kingdoms anymore,' Rei shook her head, almost angrily. 'They should be after Endymion and the Earth, not us.'

'They are after me as well, Rei,' Mamoru spoke up defensively. 

'Oh, we can see that,' Rei snorted sarcastically. 

'Be thankful that one of your own hasn't been so badly effected!' Artemis cried in exasperation. 

'They will always seek you, and always be drawn to you,' Luna told her in an annoyed voice. 

'Because opposites attract,' Usagi murmured. 

'Precisely,' Luna nodded. 

'How do we overcome this?' Minako asked Artemis sadly. 

There was a pause. 

'You don't know,' Ami stated. 'Because it hasn't been done before.'

'Wait a moment…you're telling us that the Oppositi came after us when we HAD kingdoms, and we _didn't_ defeat them?' Rei asked. 

'You weren't around either by that stage,' Luna sighed. 

'What?'

Artemis looked to Luna. The grey cat shifted uncomfortably. 

'You had all already passed on. Selenity and Endymion were dead – the Senshi were sent away by the Queen to protect her daughter at a later date. The Moon Kingdom was declining, and your peoples were mourning your tragic losses. The Oppositi attacked at the right time, taking out all that was left of your planets. That is why Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and the moon are barren wastelands.'

'But they never got us in that time,' Ami caught on. 'And are after us now.'

'They were after you to start with,' Luna sighed. 

'Right,' Mamoru shook his head, almost in disbelief. 'What do we do?' he asked this time, stressing each word. 'Something must have gotten rid of them in the end, we just have to find out what.'

'Just as something, some trigger, must have brought them back to our time,' Ami added. 

'That's right,' Artemis picked up. 'Something must have. You have to remember more.'

'How do we do that?' Minako asked. 'We weren't there. No one was.'

'There has to be an answer,' Artemis was adamant. 

'And we _have_ to find it,' Usagi shook her head, shifting closer to the window. The sun filtered in on her, and she felt almost safe. The light was her ally. 


	13. Thirteen

Thirteen

Mamoru left the girls quite quickly after the truth about the Oppositi had been revealed. He felt a connection to all the girls, undoubtedly owing to his former life, but still felt that when it came to it, he acted better on his own. 

He was the least effected, and thus felt he was the least at risk. But after hearing the other girls' experiences, Mamoru wondered why he hadn't actually _seen_ his Oppositi?

He had a feeling that willing it, wanting to meet with it, would prompt a meeting to take place. 

And he was right. 

He was baiting his Oppositi, he knew it. He'd left his windows open, his lights off, and his curtains drawn. In his apartment, drafting his assignment for a practical due that week at University, he became nervous. What if he couldn't reason with, or overcome this enemy? What powers would this enemy have, since his element was really a combination of all elements – the Earth?

Scrutinising, playful laughter filled his ears, and Mamoru turned to his window quickly. 

On its length sat a beautiful young woman, her skin tanned olive and her hair as black as deepest night. 

Mamoru gulped. He hadn't thought that his Oppositi would look so non-threatening, yet so dangerous in one. 

'Been waiting long?' the girl flicked her hair over her shoulders and stretched her bare arms out in a tired motion. She was scantily clad in a ratty, earthy-coloured dress of some kind.

Mamoru didn't reply. 

'What's the matter?' the girl laughed, folding her legs around smoothly and adjusting herself on the edge of the window sill. Her jade-green eyes flickered a moment, staring into his own. Then a cheeky smile grew. 

'You don't remember a thing, do you?'

Mamoru still didn't reply. He was confused, granted, but he was unwilling to speak for fear of putting himself off guard. He needed to have his senses about him. 

The girl sighed. 'You never were any fun. No wonder I rebelled.'

Mamoru prepared to change into Tuxedo Kamen. This girl was psyching him out, big time. 

'Who are you?' he asked. 

She rolled her eyes. 'Gaea, you twit.' 

'I know you,' he narrowed his eyes somewhat. 

'Of course you do,' she slinked off the window sill and shimmered over to Mamoru, her bare feet padding softly on the tiles. 

He regarded her warily, frustrated that he couldn't remember who it had been in his former life that had wielded such intense eyes, such a memorable face, such a prominent name. 

'Endymion,' Gaea shook her head, tutting. 'Blind to everything but his princess. Even to his people,' she reached her hands out to Mamoru, and he grabbed her wrists to stop her. 

Her eyes narrowed. 'You selfish prick.'

'Just tell me who you are, and what you want,' Mamoru said quietly, but steadily. 

Gaea untwisted her wrists delicately and took Mamoru's marked hand. She stared at the semi-circle blister and ran her hand over it. 

'You would think that the bond of blood would have you remember,' she sighed wistfully, almost sarcastically. 

Mamoru's heart stopped a moment, and he remembered as she said the words, confirming. 

'I'm your sister,' she looked up to him. 'Gaea. And I should have been the Princess of the Earth.'

'Gaea,' Mamoru remembered. 'You…'

'I was ignored, brother,' she backed away, an ice in her voice that hadn't previously been there. 'I was one of my many benefits to live close enough to the Political Systems to see the Kingdoms for what they were. And I was in a position to do something about it.'

Mamoru remembered what Luna and Artemis had told them at Rei's that morning. The Oppositi had destroyed the old Kingdoms. 

'You wish to destroy your own brother?' he pressed, emotions colliding within him as his past life and eternal star forced weights on his present form. 

She tilted her head knowingly. 'I am not all-encompassing evil, Endo. I am a protector, just as you think you are. I fight for the freedom of these people and to right the injustices performed on the old empire. If we allow you to continue along your current path, the world, the universe will fall back into the archaic system of old, where blood and order of birth are what matter, and not brains, talent, morals-'

'Ok, ok,' Mamoru held up his hands. What a little activist he had for a sister! She thought what she was doing was _helping_ the Earth people? 

'Do you have any idea what myself and the Sailor Senshi do?' he asked quietly. 

The Princess of the Earth paused, and her lips thinned. 

'We fight the evils of the Negaverse. We keep these people safe, just as we did before,' he explained.

'You keep these people blind. It's a façade, Endo, to hide the plans of an idealistic united Kingdom once more. It can never happen. You were born first, and thus born to privileges that I could never have dreamt of. But privileges breed blindness in other areas.'

'I do not recall the people of the Earth, or the Moon for that matter, being so disgruntled with the state of their lives, Gaea,' Mamoru fought to remember who he was talking to, and who he was supposed to be. Perhaps he wouldn't have to fight her – she seemed like a very educated girl. But where had she borne her delusions?

'You were never a part of their lives to find out yourself,' Gaea fired. 'You can't even remember me, how can you remember what your people felt?' 

'Think what you will,' Mamoru shook his head. 'What we do, we do for the good of the people. I am not an all-encompassing evil either, sister. Tell me what it is you really want.'

Gaea closed her eyes and shook her head. 'I want what I could never have. My birthright. It's me who should have been up there, at all the events, making the decisions, taking galactic journeys. I have twice the brains and ten times the charm-'

Mamoru turned scarlet-

'- but that isn't the point. Personal revenge will be a perk.'

'We are going to exterminate the threat of the Old Kingdom ever rising again to Power.'

'Good luck,' Mamoru held up his hands in a wanton effort to lighten the air. 

Gaea glared. 'Even now you make fun of me. You forget, brother, I know your capabilities. I have watched you, in your fighting days. You have no idea of my strengths.'

'So kill me,' Mamoru challenged. 

Gaea closed her eyes in what Mamoru took for frustration. This he remembered – his little sister, trying so hard to be a grown up all her life. Why hadn't she been content with being a child while she'd had the chance?

While thinking these sentimental thoughts, Mamoru began to feel a cold breeze drifting through what he took to be the window. He didn't think in time that it was coming from this girl in front of him. 

Without warning, her hands shot up, and sparks shot out of her fingertips. 

Mamoru ducked and rolled out of the way, the sparks hitting his rough assignment and blowing the papers and pages to smithereens. 

'Stop!' Mamoru called. 

Gaea didn't speak, and strode to the desk Mamoru had shielded behind. 

'You always underestimated me. In that age, I could do nothing while you lived. In this age, I can,' she grated. 

Sparks, silver and blinding, shot out of the ends of her fingertips again, and this time struck true. 

Mamoru felt as though an earthquake was rocking his internal organs, like there was a wild, raging party going on in his veins and like his hair was standing on end. 

It couldn't end like this. 

The paralysis that came with all the Earthly elemental powers linked together made it difficult, so difficult. But Mamoru pushed the pain, the paralysis, the pulsing fear, to the back of his mind. 

And he stood. 

Gaea stopped a moment and glared at her brother. 

In front of her stood a transformed Prince Endymion.

'Back down, young one,' he gasped. 

'You are weak,' she spat. 'And I can sense it, you fear for your life. Selfish to the core, Endo,' Gaea raised her hands again.

The Prince of the Earth was a proud man, but knew when a battle was once sided. 

Endymion jumped out the window as quick as a flash and ran. 

'Coward!' he heard Gaea's mental and vocal screams echoing as he ran towards the only place he could think of that was safe. 


End file.
